An employee walking along a thermal pipe at the Kamojang geothermalpower plant near Garut, West Java, on March 18. State utility provider Perusahaan Listrik Negara is targeting an additional 135 megawatts ofelectricity from three new geothermal plants. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time. …”

Saturday, March 21, 2009

IPB tells city to use bioretention tech

An expert with the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) says Jakarta’s city administration may be able to ease the water crisis in the capital city by using bioretention technology.

Bioretention technology uses the chemical, biological and physical properties of plants, microbes and soils, to slow the rainwater runoff and retain water longer in the soil.

Nana M. Arifjaya, a lecturer at the institute’s School of Forestry, said the city needed to set aside 44 percent of its land area, or around 28,902 of its 64,346 hectares, to retain groundwater with bioretention technology.

“Jakarta needs to set aside specific areas, which can act as a huge sponge absorbing rainwater and retaining it,” Nana said.

He pointed out Senayan, Pasar Minggu, Srengseng, Kebon Jeruk, Meruya, Joglo, Menteng and Pondok Indah as among the key areas the city should use to retain groundwater.

He added since most areas in the city were built-up, residents could convert small spaces across the city, such as backyards, gutters, pavements, parks, parking spaces and small alleys, to build water retention wells using the technology.

With an average precipitation of 2,000 millimeters per year, Jakarta can store up to 578.34 million cubic meters of water per year, or 1,583,655 cubic meters per day, he estimated.

“That will be more than sufficient to cater for the water needs of 7.9 million city residents,” he claimed.

“The implementation of the technology would also slow down land subsidence and seawater intrusion thanks to the well-maintained water table in the ground,” he said.

Experts have warned earlier that many parts of the city would be underwater before the year 2012. Firdaus Ali, an environmental expert at the University of Indonesia, reported land was sinking at around 10 centimeters a year on average. The city environmental management agency also confirmed land subsidence had increased due to pressure from buildings (87.5 percent) and ground water absorption (12.5 percent). More than 21 million cubic meters of groundwater was pumped out every year.

Some other experts also reported seawater intrusion, 11 to 12 kilometers from the coast. Seawater intrusion and subsidence can also cause buildings to collapse.

The city administration teamed up with the IPB last year to introduce bioretention technology to the capital.

“We’ve already built 800 wells,” Governor Fauzi Bowo said Friday.

“We will keep developing the wells throughout the city. The problem is how to involve as many as city residents in this project,” Fauzi said.

Aside from the bioretention technology, the city administration recently introduced biopores, 1-meter-deep holes bored into the ground to collect rainwater. Biopores are made by putting organic waste into soil. Insects and worms then create micropores around the waste, improving the soil’s water absorption.

Nana said Jakarta alone needs more than 125,000 bioretention wells.

If the technology is used to tackle flooding, he said, it should be implemented across Greater Jakarta and include 261,622 wells spread around Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi and Depok. He estimated the costs of building those wells would reach Rp 1 trillion.

Health, Safety & Environment

PRECARIOUS: Without proper safety equipment, three workers put the iron frame for a billboard in place near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Friday. The billboard will display a sign celebrating the city's 480th birthday. JP/Arief Suhardiman

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Water Distribution

Flow of Funds, Flow of Water (WB)

Today, fewer than 20% of households in Indonesia have access to piped water, which is inexpensive and still of reasonable quality compared to alternative sources. The situation has deteriorated in recent years, as the sector can no longer rely on central government grants and loans, formerly major sources of funding.Read More ...

FREE CAR WASH: A taxi is sprayed with water from a broken pipe on Jl. HR Rasuna Said in South Jakarta on Sunday. (JP/J. Adiguna)

GIFT FROM EARTH: Almost half of Jakarta's residents use groundwater as their main source of clean water due to a lack of access to treated piped water. Water comes from wells like the one this family in Kampung Bahari, North Jakarta are using (photo above), or mechanic pumps like this one in Kampung Melayu, South Jakarta. (JP/P.J. Leo)

LATEST NEWS: Photographers covering the deteriorating health of former president Soeharto send pictures through a wireless internet facility in front of Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta on Wednesday. The service, which was provided by IT company CISCO, has saved journalists the effort of going back and forth between their offices to submit their work. JP/R. Berto Wedhatama